Alleviate announces CD release on war, love and memories

St. Albert rock band Alleviate will be front and centre at their debut CD release, Aggressive Grace, this coming Saturday at the Starlite Room.

As the name suggests, Aggressive Grace is about embracing stories that are honest and true.

“Some are even stories that happened,” said lead singer/songwriter Chad Plamondon. The 11-track offers songs about love and war. There’s even an ode to the Fort McMurray fire titled The Wild and The Wood.

“I’m from Fort McMurray, and I still have a lot of family there. My sister was in Fort McMurray during the fire and I had a lot of friends up there who were terrified. I tried to help, but there was not much I could do,” said Plamondon, a Paul Kane High graduate.

“I know people say Fort McMurray is not a great place to live, but it’s where I grew up and met a lot of incredible people. It’s a place I will hold dear in my heart.”

Plamondon’s fascination with war prompted him to writer Godless, a two-part saga dissecting the Second World War’s motives and destructive decisions.

And Telos is an outpouring of grief when in one year he saw the passing of a family member as well as five friends in various incidents such as car accidents, murder and suicide.

“It was a lot to take in.”

Plamondon first met his band mates, guitarist Matt MacKenzie, bassist Christopher Weihmann and drummer Aaron Passek, during one of Paul Kane’s rock and pop classes.

They played together but didn’t take anything seriously until Plamondon won CISN Radio’s 2014 Creekwood Singing Contest. He received studio time to record the song and won a trip to the American Country Music Awards.

Although a rock and roller at heart, Plamondon used the event to expand songwriting boundaries and it paid off. As for the recording, he needed a band and called upon his buddies, MacKenzie, Weihmann and Passek.

By August 2015, the foursome entered Landmark Events Festival, a battle of the bands. Plamondon wrote about 30 minutes worth of material and they pumped it out at the Starlite Room.

Their prize was four days of studio time at Audio Department, album promotion, digital distribution and a concert at Vancouver’s Rickshaw Theatre, a movie theatre converted into a concert hall.

“For us, it was a lot of fun. It was our first out-of-town gig. The crowd was with us and we ended up meeting promoters.”

Interestingly, the band chose the moniker “Alleviate” because music and songwriting is therapeutic for them.

“It alleviates our stress and we hope it does that for people listening.”

Also pumping up the CD release event is a select lineup that includes local rockers Echoes of Apathy, punk rockers A Gentleman’s Pack and Calgary-based hard rock band Dextress.

“We have friends in each band and we believe in keeping everything local and home grown.”